J9566 

...&.COD.Z 


HE  COLORED  PEOPLEl 
OF  CHICAGO 


AN    INVESTIGATION 


M  A  D  E     F    )  N 


The  Juvenile  Protective  Association 


n  v 


A.  P,   DRUCKJ  I- 
SOPHIA  BOAZ 
A.  L.  HARP  IS 
MIRIAM    SCHAFPtfKP 


«NTMlC.RCOUriONANDBOOK$TACK$ 

The  person  borrowing  this  mat»  •  , 
responsible  for  its  rfnew^lT       f  1S 
before  the  Latest  D«t»  .  °r  return 

may  be  cLZ-t         ■■  stamPed  below.  You 
may  be  charged  a  mimmum  fee  of  $75  00 

"^"on-returned  or  lost  item. 

property  of  the  Stat*  nf  ill-     •         .    L|Drary  are  the 
,..        TO  RENEW,  CALL  (217)  333-8400 

OT2003 
MOV  V 


SSstt^  Wite  —  *"*J 


PHE-COLORED  PEOPLE 
OF  CHICAGO 


AN    INVESTIGATION 


MADE    FOR 


he  Juvenile  Protective  Association 


BY 


A.  P.   DRUCKER 

SOPHIA  BOAZ 

A.  L.  HARRIS 

MIRIAM    SCHAFFNER 


TEXT    BY 

LOUISE  DE  KOVEN  BOWEN 
1913 


The  Colored  People  of 
licago 


Chi 


Colored  People  In  the  course  of  an  investigation  recently 
in  County  Jail  made  by  the  Juvenile  Protective  Associa- 
tion of  Chicago  upon  the  conditions  of 
boys  in  the  County  Jail,  the  Association  was  much  startled 
by  the  disproportionate  number  of  colored  boys  and 
young  men;  for  although  the  colored  people  of  Chicago 
.approximate  1/40  of  the  entire  population,  ]/%  of  the  boys 
and  young  men  and  nearly  1/3  of  the  girls  and 
young  women  who  had  been  confined  in  the  jail  during 
the  year  were  negroes. 

Maids  in  The  Association  had  previously  been  im- 

Houses  of  Pros-  preSsed  with  the  fact  that  most  of  the 
maids  employed  in  houses  of  prostitution 
were  colored  girls   and  that  many  em- 
ployment agencies  quite  openly  sent  them  there,  although 
they  would  not  take  the  risk  of  sending  a  white  girl  to 
a  place  where,  if  she  was  forced  into  a  life  of  prostitu- 
tion, the  agency  would  be  liable  to  a  charge  of  pandering. 
In  an  attempt  to  ascertain  the  causes  which  would 
account  for  a  great  amount  of  delinquency  among  the 
colored  boys  and  the  public  opinion  which  would  so  care- 
lessly place  the  virtue  of  a  colored  girl  in  jeopardy,  the 
Juvenile  Protective  Association  found  itself  involved  in  a 
study  of  the  industrial  and  social  status  of  the  colored 
people  of  Chicago. 

Morality  and  While  the  morality  of  every  young  per- 
Environment  son  js  closely  bound  up  with  that  of  his 
family  and  his  immediate  environment, 
this  is  especially  true  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  colored 
fanilies  who,  because  they  continually  find  the  door  of 
opportunity  shut  in  their  faces,  are  more  easily  .forced 
back  into  their  early  environment  however  vicious  it  may 
have  been.  The  enterprising  young  people  in  immigrant 
families  who  have  passed  through  the  public  schools  and 
are  earning  good  wages,  continually  succeed  in  moving 


f 


58443 


their  entire  households  into  more  prosperous  neighbor- 
hoods where  they  gradually  lose  all  trace  of  their  tene- 
ment-house experiences.  On  the  contrary,  the  colored 
young  people,  however  ambitious,  find  it  extremely  diffi- 
cult to  move  their  families  or  even  themselves  into  de- 
sirable parts  of  the  city  and  to  make  friends  in  these 
surroundings. 

The  First  Negro  Because  the  fate  of  the  young  people 
in  Chicago  was  tnus  so  inextricably  a  part  of  the 

life  of  the  colored  people  in  Chicago, 
the  investigators  found  themselves  studying  the  entire 
history  of  the  negro  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan, 
following  it  to  the  very  beginning  where  it  is  said  the 
first  cabin  was  built  in  1779,  by  a  negro  from  San 
Domingo. 

Slavery,  of  course,  prevailed  in  Illinois  just  as 
everywhere  else  in  the  Northwest  Territory,  having 
been  introduced  during  the  French  occupation  and  al- 
lowed to  continue  under  the  English.  When,  by  an 
act  of  Congress,  in  1787,  slavery  was  forever  pro- 
hibited "northwest  of  the  Ohio  River,"  this  act  was  so 
strenuously  objected  to  in  the  territory  of  Illinois  that 
it  was  construed  to  refer  only  to  the  introduction  of 
new  slaves,  not  to  the  emancipation  of  those  already 
in  slavery.  When  Illinois  became  a  state  in  1818,  its 
compromise  constitution  forbade  perpetual  slavery,  but 
allowed  indenture  for  twenty-five  years  of  service. 

Illinois  Liberal  Although  the  state  of  Illinois  was 
in  Slave  Time  bound  by  this  compromise,  the  early 
city  of  Chicago  itself  was  most  liberal 
to  the  negro,  as  the  following  incident  illustrates:  In 
1842  an  industrious  and  well  behaved  colored  man  in 
Chicago  was  arrested  on  the  ground  of  being  in  the 
state  without  a  "free  certificate."  He  was  taken  before 
a  judge  who  promptly  committed  him  to  jail,  to  be  so;d 
at  auction  if  no  owner  turned  up.  In  the  meantime, 
friends  of  the  colored  man  printed  handbills  announc- 
ing that  "A  man  will  be  sold  at  auction  next  Monday 
morning  in  the  jail,"  and  distributed  them  on  Suno'ay 
among  the  church-goers.     When  the  sheriff  brought 


out  his  "ware"  on  Monday  to  auction  him  off,  he  faced 
an  angry  and  scowling  audience  and  when  he  began 
his  auctioneering,  he  found  that  no  bids  were  forth- 
coming. "What  will  you  bid  for  a  strong  man  who 
can  do  all  kinds  of  work?"  he  called  again  and  again, 
but  meeting  with  no  response  he  threatened  to  take 
his  man  back  to  jail  and  lock  him  up.  This  threat  had 
the  desired  effect  and  he  received  a  solitary  bid  of 
twenty-five  cents  from  Mr.  M.  C.  Ogden,  a  prominent 
man  in  the  early  life  of  Chicago.  The  purchaser  then 
addressed  the  colored  man  in  the  presence  of  the  crowd 
and  assured  him  that  he  was  free  to  go  where  he 
pleased. 

Chicago  Police  The  passing  of  the  fugitive  slave  law 
Did  Not  Aid        m   Congress  in   1850,  created  a  great 

in  Fugitive  excitement  in   Chicago   when  the  col- 

Slave  Law  .  ,       .    ,         °  . 

ored  people  of  the  city  met  in  conven- 
tion and  resolved  "not  to  fly  to  Canada, 
but  to  remain  and  defend  themselves."  A  few  days 
later  the  City  Council  passed  a  resolution  that  the  city 
police  should  not  be  required  to  aid  in  the  recovery 
of  slaves. 


Colored  Chil-  In  1854  Stephen  A.  Douglas  was  hooted 
drCp  ££mitted  °ff  a  Chicago  platform  when  he  tried 
Schoolsln  1873  to  sPeack  for  his  pro-slavery  resolution 
m  the  benate.  .From  that  day  Chicago 
took  a  leading  place  in  the  anti-slavery 
fight,  but  it  was  not  until  1872  that  all  laws  discrimin- 
ating against  the  colored  people  were  taken  off  the 
Illinois  statute  books.  In  the  next  year,  1873,  the 
colored  children  were  by  statute  allowed  to  attend  the 
public  schools  of  the  city. 


High  School        Although  no  separate  schools  have  ever 
Education  of        been    established    in    Chicago,    it    was 
found  that  many  colored  young  peo- 
ple become  discouraged  in  regard  to  a 
"high  school  education"  because  of  the  tendency  of  the 


employers  who  use  colored  persons  at  all  in  their  busi- 
ness to  assign  them  to  the  most  menial  labor. 

Many  a  case  on  record  in  the  Juvenile  Protective 
Association  tells  the  tale  of  an  educated  young  negro 
who  failed  to  find  employment  as  a  stenographer,  book- 
keeper, or  clerk.  One  rather  pathetic  story  is  of  a  boy 
graduated  from  a  technical  high  school  last  spring. 
He  was  sent  with  other  graduates  of  his  class  to  a  big 
electric  company  where,  in  the  presence  of  all  his 
classmates  he  was  told  that  "niggers  are  not  wanted 
here."  The  Association  has  on  record  another  instance 
where  a  graduate  of  a  business  college  was  refused  a 
position  under  similar  circumstances.  This  young 
man  in  response  to  an  advertisement  went  to  a  large 
firm  to  ask  for  a  position  as  clerk.  "We  take  colored 
help  only  as  laborers,"  he  was  told  by  the  manager  of 
a  firm  supposed  to  be  friendly  to  the  negroes. 

Business  Col-       All    the    leading    business   colleges    in 
leges  and  In-       Chicago,  except  one,  frankly  discrimi- 

DUcrfminate0       na.te  aSainst  neSr0  students.     The  one 
Against  the  friendly     school     at     present     among 

Colored  People  twelve  hundred  white  students  has 
only  two  colored  students,  but  its 
records  show  as  many  as  thirty  colored 
students  in  the  past.  The  manager,  however,  claims 
that  his  business  has  suffered  in  consequence  of  his 
friendliness  to  the  negro.  Even  the  superintendent  of 
the  Illinois  Industrial  School  for  Boys  at  St.  Charles 
complains  that  it  is  not  worth  while  to  teach  trades  to 
the  colored  boys  in  his  institution  because  it  is  so  very 
difficult  for  a  skilled  colored  man  to  secure  employ- 
ment. 


Resulting  Re-  This  reaction  against  education  is  one 
action  Against  f  th  indirect  reSults  of  the  difficulties 
Education  ...  .         «  . 

which  young  colored  people  encounter 

in  their  efforts  to  find  work.  The  in- 
vestigators considered  this  difficulty  one  of  the  gravest 
features  in  the  entire  situation,  affecting  alike  most 
disastrously  all  of  the  colored  people  in  Chicago. 


Uncongenial  From  the  interviews  with  all  the  boys 
Employment  m  the  jail  it  was  clear  that  the  lack  of 
Often  Cause  of  •   i  j  *.•  t 

Criminality  congenial    and    remunerative    employ- 

ment had  been  a  determining  factor  in 
their  tendency  to  criminality,  but  be- 
cause the  colored  boys  suffered  under  an  additional 
handicap  and  because  the  opportunities  for  work  are 
the  essentials  for  all  economic  progress,  the  entire 
investigation  had  much  to  do  with  the  basic  question 
of  employment. 

Labor  Unions  The  colored  man  believes  that  the  La- 
and  the  J30r  Unions  discriminate  against  him, 

Colored  Man  .,«  *  j.i  *  x  ,, 

either  openly  or  secretly;  a  few  of  the 

organizations  have  a  clause  in  their 
constitutions  stating  that  whites  alone  are  eligible  to 
membership,  but  most  of  them  allow  the  colored  man 
to  pay  his  initiation  fee  and  become  a  member;  they, 
however,  take  no  pains  to  secure  him  a  place,  and  when 
he  finds  it  difficult  to  find  work  because  the  contractor 
and  his  fellow  workmen  discriminate  against  him  and 
only  gets  a  job  here  and  there,  he  is  frequently  tempted 
to  work  with  "scabs,"  and  after  several  fines  for  this 
infringement  of  rules  he  drops  out  of  the  union.  The 
investigators  found  that  this  was  not  the  exception, 
but  the  rule.  Mechanics  who  are  members  of  the  build- 
ing trades  do  not  complain  because  they  have  been  re- 
fused membership  in  the  unions,  but  because  they  are 
discriminated  against  when  it  comes  to  working  in  a 
building,  although  this  discrimination  is  not  extended 
to  the  unskilled  colored  man.  Therefore,  while  many 
colored  mechanics  who  come  to  Chicago  for  work  re- 
turn to  the  South  where  there  are  fewer  unions  and 
white  men  more  willingly  work  with  colored  men, 
this  return  to  the  South  almost  never  occurs  among 
the  unskilled. 

An  Attempt  to  The  investigators  found  that  a  move- 
Compel  Admis-  ment  was  being  discussed  among  the 
sion  to  Labor  11  1     •      r*i^«  • 
Unions  colored  people  in  Chicago  to  organize 

unions  for  colored  artisans  to  act  as 
strike-breakers  whenever  possible,  un- 


til  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  asked  them  to 
join  the  white  unions.  This,  of  course,  is  the  very 
worst  thing  they  could  possibly  do,  as  the  colored  peo- 
ple in  Chicago  have  not  yet  recovered  from  the  ani- 
mosity excited  against  them  during  the  stock  yards 
strike  when  colored  men  from  the  South  were  im- 
ported as  strike  breakers.  The  colored  people  them- 
selves believe  that  their  difficulty  in  finding  work  is 
often  due  to  the  objection  of  the  employers  to  treating 
the  colored  man  with  the  respect  which  a  skilled  me- 
chanic would  command.  Certainly  the  colored  laborer 
is  continually  driven  to  lower  kinds  of  occupation  which 
are  gradually  being  discarded  by  the  white  man. 

Corporations        Certainly  the  investigators  found  that 
Usually  Refuse    t^e  great  corporations,  for  one  reason 
mp  oyme  Qr  anotjier^  refused  to  employ  negroes. 

Department  stores,  express  companies 
and  the  public  utility  companies  employ  very  few  col- 
ored people.  Out  of  the  3,795  men  employed  in  Chi- 
cago by  the  eight  leading  express  companies,  only 
twenty-one  were  colored  men.  Fifteen  of  these  were 
porters.  The  investigators  found  no  colored  men  in 
Chicago  employed  as  boot  and  shoe  makers,  glove 
makers,  bindery  workers,  garment  workers'  trades  in 
factories,  cigar  box  makers,  elevated  railroad  employes, 
neckware  trades,  suspender  makers  and  printers.  No 
colored  women  are  employed  in  dressmaking,  cap  mak- 
ing, lingerie,  or  corset  making.  The  two  reasons  given 
for  this  non-employment  by  the  employers  are  first, 
the  refusal  of  the  white  employes  to  work  with  the 
colored  people;  second,  that  the  "colored  help"  is 
slower  and  not  so  efficient  as  the  white.  Some  em- 
ployers solve  the  second  difficulty  by  paying  the  col- 
ored help  less.  In  the  laundries,  for  instance,  where 
colored  people  do  the  same  work  as  the  white,  the 
latter  average  a  dollar  a  week  more. 

The  Field  of  The  effect  of  these  restrictions  upon 
Undesirable  the   negroes   are,   first,   that   they   are 

ccupations         crowded   into   undesirable   and   under- 
paid   occupations.      As    an    examole, 


about  12  per  cent  of  the  colored  men  in  Chicago  work 
in  saloons  and  pool-rooms.  Second,  there  is  a  greater 
competition  in  a  limited  field  with  a  consequent  ten- 
dency to  lower  the  already  low  wages.  Third,  the 
colored  women  are  forced  to  go  to  work  to  help  earn 
the  family  living;  this  occurs  so  universally  as  to  affect 
the  entire  family  and  social  life  of  the  negro  colony. 

Pullman  Com-  A  large  number  of  negroes  are  em- 
pany  the  Largest  ployed  on  the  railroads,  largely  due  to 
r^r^Wir,       the  influence  of  the  Pullman  Palace  Car 

woiurcu   men  .  . 

Company.  1  here  is  a  tradition  among 
colored  people  that  Mr.  Pullman  in- 
serted a  clause  in  his  will  urging  the  company  to 
employ  colored  men  on  the  trains  whenever  possible, 
but  while  the  investigators  found  1,849  Pullman  por- 
ters living  in  Chicago,  they  counted  7,625  colored  men 
working  in  saloons  and  pool  rooms.  There  is  also  a 
high  percentage  of  them  employed  in  the  theaters, 
more  than  one-fourth  of  all  the  employes  in  the  lead- 
ing theaters  of  Chicago  being  colored  men. 

Contrast  Be-  The  Federal  Government  has  always 
tween  Employ-    been  a  ]arge  employer  of  colored  labor; 

and*  Federal°a  ^  Per  cent  °^  t^ie  f°rce  m  a^  the  Federal 
Government  departments  are  negroes.  In  Chicago 
the  percentage  of  colored  men  is  higher. 
Out  of  a  total  of  8,012  men,  755  or  10.61  per  cent  of  the 
whole  are  colored,  approximately  their  just  proportion 
to  the  population.  The  negroes,  however,  do  not  fare 
so  well  in  local  government.  A  study  made  of  the  city 
departments  in  Chicago  showed  the  percentage  of 
colored  employes  to  be  1.87  per  cent,  in  Cook  County 
to  be  1.88  per  cent.  Three  colored  men  have  also  been 
elected  as  County  Commissioners,  and  there  is  said  to 
be  no  instance  on  record  in  Chicago  of  a  negro  office 
holder  having  betrayed  his  trust. 

The  Colored  The  investigators  found,  in  regard  to 
Man  in  the  colored  man  in  business  :   (1)   That 

the  greater  number  of  their  enterprises 
are  the  outgrowth  of  domestic  and  per- 
sonal   service    occupations.      (2)  That    they    are    in 


branches  of  business  which  call  for  small  amounts  of 
capital  and  very  little  previous  experience.  There  are 
at  present  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  managed  by  colored 
men,  twenty-three  manufacturing  establishments  of 
various  kinds,  seventy-two  barber  shops,  sixty-three 
van,  moving,  and  storage  .places,  fifty  restaurants, 
thirty-four  pool  rooms,  twenty-six  real  estate  dealers, 
twenty-six  tailors,  twenty-five  coal  and  wood  dealers, 
twenty-four  hair  dressers,  twenty-three  groceries, 
twenty  cigar  venders,  twelve  builders  and  contractors, 
eleven  undertakers,  nine  printing  plants,  and  eight 
hotels,  besides  a  small  representation  in  forty-one  other 
lines  of  business. 

Table  showing  number  of  colored  men  employed 
by  the  city  of  Chicago : 

Department  of   Police 83 

Fire  Department  11 

Corporation  Counsel  Office 1 

Health  Department 22 

Board  of  Education,  not  including  educational 

employes  of  the  Board 9 

Department  of  Public  Works 32 

Board  of  Local  Improvement 3 

Mayor's  Office   1 

Municipal  Court 1 

Municipal  Court — Bailiffs'  Office 1 

Municipal  Tuberculosis  Sanitarium 2 

Department  of  Smoke  Inspection 1 

City  Comptroller's  Office 2 

Public  Library 23 

Labor  Service  100 

Total  colored 292 

Total  number  employed 15,597 

Percentage  colored 1.87 

In  the  colored  belt  on  the  South  Side  of  Chicago, 
there  are  a  number  of  business  houses  managed  by 
colored  people  and  patronized  exclusively  by  mem- 
bers of  their  own  race.    There  is  also  one  bank  located 


in  a  fine  building  of  which  a  colored  man  is  president 
and  80  per  cent  of  the  depositors  white.  Accord- 
ing to  the  evidence  confirmed  by  the  figures  of  the 
United  States  census,  however,  there  is  little  possibility 
for  a  colored  business  man  to  make  a  living  solely  from 
the  patronage  of  his  own  people.  The  census  report 
holds  that  he  succeeds  -in  business  only  when  two- 
thirds  of  his  customers  are  white.  This  affords  one 
explanation  of  the  fact  that  most  of  his  business  is  of 
such  a  character  that  a  white  man  is  willing  to  patron- 
ize it — barber  shops,  expressing,  restaurants,  and  other 
business  suggesting  personal  service. 

The  Principal  In  a  mile  on  State  street,  from  No.  3000 
Business  Street  to  3900,  the  investigators  found  108 
"Black  Belt"  colored  men  in  business,  who  employed 
270  colored  men.  Of  these  business 
undertakings,  twelve  were  saloons — 
most  of  them  newly  opened;  twelve  barber  shops; 
seven  real  estate  offices — only  three  of  them  ten  years  old ; 
ten  restaurants — five  of  them  having  been  there  for 
more  than  five  years  and  two  for  more  than  ten  years ; 
six  pool  rooms — all  recently  opened  ;  four  hair  dressers, 
and  three  tailors,  in  addition  to  confectioners,  bakers, 
cleaners,  decorators,  dressmakers,  druggists  and  the 
other  miscellaneous  shops  usually  found  in  a  self-con- 
tained neighborhood.  As  ministering  to  the  higher 
life,  there  were  found  in  the  same  block  three  music 
stores,  one  "art"  store,  one  piano  store,  two  printers, 
and — if  they  may  be  included  in  such  a  list — a  pho- 
tographer and  a  florist.  All  of  the  latter  save  one  have 
been  in  existence  for  more  than  five  years,  in  sharp 
contrast  to  the  more  ephemeral  life  of  the  pool  rooms 
and  saloons,  only  one  of  which  has  survived  so  long, 
while  eleven  others  have  changed  proprietors  recently. 
This  may  be  partly  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  requires 
very  little  money  to  run  either,  since  both  the  brew- 
eries and  the  pool  room  manufacturers  readily  accom- 
modate their  salesmen  with  their  goods  and  other  fittings, 
and  many  young  colored  men,  who  have  been  em- 
ployed in  them,  are  ambitious  themselves  to  become 
proprietors.    While  in  a  measure  the  decency  of  such 


a  place  depends  upon  the  proprietor,  he  usually  re- 
sponds to  the  pressure  of  the  large  concern  who  is  his 
creditor.  The  total  amount  of  capital  invested  in  the 
mile  by  the  108  colored  men  was  found  to  be  $15,750. 
In  addition  to  the  colored  men  carrying  on  business  in 
the  mile  were  twenty-six  ^Americans,  seventy-nine 
Jews,  eighteen  Germans,  thirteen  Irishmen,  ten  Greeks, 
nine  Chinamen,  and  six  other  white  men  whose  nation- 
ality was  not  ascertained.  Several  colored  women 
manage  independent  hair  dressing  establishments  in 
Chicago.  On  State  street  there  are  two  successful 
restaurants  conducted  by  women;  also  one  saloon 
and  one  florist  shop;  two  widows  of  their  original  own- 
ers. There  are  a  large  proportion  of  real  estate  deal- 
ers among  colored  men,  many  of  whom  do  business 
with  white  people,  the  negro  dealer  often  becoming 
the  agent  for  houses  which  the  white  dealers  refuse 
to  handle.  Colored  people  are  very  eager  to  own  their 
own  homes  and  many  of  them  are  buying  small  houses, 
divided  into  two  flats,  living  in  one  and  collecting  rent 
from  the  other.  The  contract  system  prevails  in  Chi- 
cago, making  it  possible  for  a  man  with  two  or  three 
hundred  dollars  for  the  first  payment  to  enter  into  a 
contract  for  the  purchase  of  a  piece  of  property,  the 
deed  being  held  by  the  real  estate  man  until  the  pur- 
chaser pays  the  amount  stipulated  in  the  contract. 

Four  Colored  As  a  careful  study  of  the  housing  con- 
Settlements  in  ditions  of  colored  people  made  by  the 
Chicago  students    of    the    Chicago    School    of 

Civics  and  Philanthropy  ascertained, 
there  are  four  well  defined  districts  in  which  colored 
people  have  resided  for  a  number  of  years — one  at 
Englewood,  one  at  55th  street  and  Lake  avenue,  one 
on  the  West  Side,  and  the  largest,  known  as  the  "Black 
Belt,"  which  includes  the  old  22nd  street  segregated 
vice  district.  In  this  so-called  "belt,"  the  number  of 
children  is  remarkably  small,  forming  only  a  little 
more  than  one-tenth  of  the  population,  while  the 
lodgers  constitute  37  per  cent  of  the  population.  The 
investigation  made  by  the  School  of  Civics  showed 
that  only  26  per  cent  of  the  houses  on  the  South  Side 


and  36  per  cent  of  the  houses  on  the  West  Side  colored 
district  were  in  good  repair.  Colored  tenants  reported 
that  they  found  it  impossible  to  persuade  their  land- 
lords either  to  make  the  necessary  repairs  or  to  release 
them  from  their  contracts,  but  that  it  was  so  hard  to 
find  places  in  which  to  live  that  they  were  forced  to 
endure  unsanitary  conditions.  The  investigation  by 
the  School  of  Civics  confirmed  the  general  impression 
that  the  rent  paid  by  a  negro  is  appreciably  higher  than 
that  paid  by  any  other  nationality.  In  a  flat  building 
formerly  occupied  by  white  people,  the  white  families 
paid  a  rent  of  twelve  dollars  for  a  six-room  apartment 
for  which  a  negro  family  are  now  paying  sixteen  dol- 
lars. A  white  family  paid  seventeen  dollars  for  an 
apartment  of  seven  rooms  for  which  the  negroes  are 
now  paying  twenty  dollars. 

Real  Estate         The  negro  real  estate  dealer  frequently 
and  the  Colored  offers  to   the  owner   of  an  apartment 
enan  house  which  is  no  longer  renting  ad- 

vantageously to  white  tenants  cash 
payment  for  a  year's  lease  on  the  property,  thus  guar- 
anteeing the  owner  against  loss,  and  then  he  fills  the 
building  with  colored  tenants.  It  is  said,  however, 
that  the  agent  does  not  put  out  the  white  tenants  un- 
less he  can  get  10  per  cent  more  from  the  colored  peo- 
ple. By  this  method  the  negroes  now  occupy  many 
large  apartment  buildings,  but  the  negro  real  estate 
agents  obtain  the  reputation  of  exploiting  their  own 
race. 

Lodgers  a  High  rents  among  the  colored  people, 

Necessity  as  everywhere  else,  force  the  families 

to  take  in  lodgers.  Nearly  one-third  of 
the  population  in  the  district  investigated  on  the  South 
Side  and  nearly  one-seventh  of  the  population  in  the  dis- 
trict investigated  on  the  West  Side  were  lodgers.  While 
this  practice  is  always  found  dangerous  to  family  life, 
it  is  particularly  so  to  the  boys  and  girls  of  colored 
familes,  who  are  often  obliged  to  live  near  the  vice  dis- 
tricts. To  quote  from  the  report,  "The  history  of  the 
social  evil  in  Chicago  is  intimately  connected  with  the 


colored  population.  Invariably  the  larger  vice  districts 
have  been  created  within  or  near  the  settlements  of 
colored  people.  In  the  past  history  of  the  city  nearly 
every  time  a  new  vice  district  was  created  downtown 
or  on  the  South  Side,  the  colored  families  within  the 
district  moved  in  just  ahead  of  the  prostitutes." 

Difficulties  of  When  it  becomes  possible  for  the  col- 
Buying  ored  people  of  a  better  class  to  buy 

roper  y  property  in  a  good   neighborhood,   so 

that  they  may  take  care  of  their  chil- 
dren and  live  respectably,  there  are  often  protest  meet- 
ings among  the  white  people  in  the  vicinity  and  some- 
times even  riots.  A  striking  example  of  the  latter  oc- 
curred within  the  past  three  years  on  the  West  Side 
of  Chicago ;  a  colored  woman  bought  a  lot  near  a  small 
park,  upon  which  she  built  a  cottage.  It  was  not  until 
she  moved  into  the  completed  house  that  the  neigh- 
bors discovered  that  a  colored  family  had  acquired 
property  there.  They  immediately  began  a  crusade  of 
insults  and  threats.  When  this  brought  no  results,  a 
"night  raid"  company  was  organized.  In  the  middle 
of  the  night  a  masked  band  broke  into  the  house;  told 
the  family  to  keep  quiet  or  they  would  be  murdered; 
then  they  tore  down  the  newly  built  house,  destroying 
everything  in  it.  This  is,  of  course,  an  extreme  in- 
stance, but  there  have  been  many  similar  to  it.  Quite 
recently  at  Wilmette,  a  suburb  of  Chicago,  animosity 
against  negro  residents  resulted  in  the  organization  of 
an  anti-negro  committee  which  requested  the  dismissal 
of  all  negroes  who  were  employed  in  the  town  as 
gardeners,  janitors,  etc.,  because  the  necessity  of  hous- 
ing their  families  depressed  real  estate  values. 

Housing  of  the  The  Juvenile  Protective  Association,  as 
Well-to-Do  a  supplement  to  the  previous  housing 

Colored  People  jnvestjgatjons>  studied  the  conditions  of 
fifty  of  the  better  homes  occupied  by 
the  colored  people  of  Chicago.  Those  in  the  so-called 
"black  belt"  in  the  city;  those  in  a  suburban  district, 
and  other  houses  situated  in  blocks  in  which  only  one 
or  two  colored  families  lived.    The  size  of  the  houses 


varied  from  five  to  fourteen  rooms,  averaging  eight 
rooms  each;  the  conditions  of  the  houses  inside  and 
out  compared  favorably  with  similar  houses  occupied 
by  white  families.  Classified  according  to  occupation, 
the  heads  of  the  household  in  nine  cases  were  railroad 
porters,  the  next  largest  number  were  janitors,  then 
waiters,  and  among  them  were  found  lawyers,  physi- 
cians and  clergymen.  In  only  four  instances  was  the 
woman  of  the  house  working  outside  the  home.  Only 
four  of  the  homes  took  in  lodgers,  and  children  were 
found  in  only  fifteen  of  the  fifty  families  studied.  The 
total  of  thirty-three  children  found  in  the  fifty  homes  av- 
erages but  two-thirds  of  a  child  for  each  family  and  but 
for  one  family — a  janitor  living  in  a  ten-room  house  and 
having  eight  children — the  average  would  have  been  but 
half  a  child  for  a  family;  confirming  the  statement 
often  made  that  while  the  poorer  colored  people  in  the 
agricultural  districts  of  the  South,  like  the  poor  Italians 
in  rural  Italy,  have  very  large  families,  when  they 
move  to  the  city  and  become  more  prosperous,  the 
birth  rate  among  colored  people  falls  below  that  of  the 
average  prosperous  American  family. 

From  the  homes  situated  in  white  neighborhoods, 
only  two  reported  "indignation  meetings  when  they 
moved  in"  and  added  "quiet  now" ;  one  other  reported 
"no  affiliation  with  white  neighbors";  still  another, 
"white  neighbors  visit  in  time  of  sickness,"  and  the 
third  was  able  to  say  "neighbors  friendly."  Of  the 
ownership  of  the  fifty  homes,  thirty-five  were  owned 
by  colored  men,  twelve  by  white  landlords  and  the 
ownership  of  three  was  not  ascertained.  Thirty-four 
of  the  houses  were  occupied  by  their  owners. 

Few  Prosperous  In  addition  to  the  fifty  families  living 
Colored  Men  in  comfortable  houses,  one  hundred 
Born  in  Chicago  more  cases  of  fairly  prosperous  colored 
families  were  investigated.  It  was 
found  that  only  six  of  the  heads  of  these  families  had 
been  born  in  Chicago,  that  seventy-seven  had  come 
from  the  South.  All  of  the  southern  states  were  repre- 
sented. Twenty-four  of  the  men  were  from  Kentucky 
and  nineteen  from  Tennessee.    Only  six  of  the  ninety- 


two  men  born  outside  of  the  state  had  been  brought  to 
Chicago  as  children,  while  seventy-one  of  the  number 
had  come  to  the  city  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and 
twenty-six.  They,  as  well  as  the  older  men,  had  come 
hoping  for  better  conditions,  their  reasons  being  vari- 
ously put  as  "higher  wages.'^  "learning  a  trade,"  "to 
get  a  home,"  "to  make  big  mbney,"  "to  get  a  position," 
"for  more  freedom,"  "for  more  schooling,"  etc.,  although 
in  nineteen  cases  the  reason  given  was  curiosity,  an 
attempt  doubtless  to  formulate  the  desire  for  adven- 
ture. 

Prosperity  Of  the  men  from  the  South  every  one 

Does  Not  Re-  had  improved  his  condition.  Those  who 
move  Race  said  their  condition  had  not  improved 

Prejudice  had  been  formerly  working  in  the  large 

cities  of  the  East  or  North,  where  liv- 
ing expenses  were  less  than  in  Chicago ;  only  one  re- 
ceived lower  wages  in  Chicago.  He  had  earned  sixteen 
dollars  a  week  before  coming  to  the  city  and  now  earns 
nine  dollars ;  two  said  their  conditions  had  not  im- 
proved because  they  "had  been  led  off  by  fast  com- 
pany." The  incomes  varied  from  $9.00  a  month 
to  $153.60  a  month;  the  average  wage  was  $67.32  a 
month.  Sixteen  of  the  men  owned  real  estate  and  six 
others  had  liberal  bank  accounts.  These  results  prob- 
ably compare  favorably  with  one  hundred  white  immi- 
grants, but  the  colored  man  insists  that  the  immigrant 
has  the  advantage  for,  when  he  learn  the  language  of 
the  country  and  adopts  American  ways,  he  gradually 
lives  down  any  prejudice  against  him,  while  the  col- 
ored man  can  never  make  himself  acceptable  to  the 
white  man  and  believes  that  he  is  often  disliked  in 
proportion  to  his  prosperity. 

Family  Life  In  contrast  to  these  one  hundred  cases 

Among  the  of  negro  men  who  were  fairly  success- 

Poorer  Negroes  ful,  one  hundred  cases  of  colored  fami- 
lies were  taken  from  the  files  of  the 
Juvenile  Protective  Association  representing,  of  course, 
as  do  the  white  families  whose  names  are  on  the  rec- 
ords of  the  Association,  people  who  were  unable  to 


adequately  protect  their  children.  These  cases,  how- 
ever, proved  to  be  typical  in  so  far  as  the  occupations 
of  the  men  were  confined  to  very  few  lines  of  activity. 
Forty-five  of  them  were  porters,  sixteen  janitors,  thir- 
teen laborers,  the  rest  scattered  in  different  kinds  of 
work — teamsters,  waiters,  cooks,  musicians,  etc.  The 
striking  difference  between  them  and  the  more  prosper- 
ous families  lay  in  the  fact  that  the  women  were  obliged 
to  work.  Of  the  women  in  these  families,  only  four- 
teen stayed  at  home ;  of  the  others,  twenty-six  were  day 
workers  in  households;  twelve  worked  in  laundries; 
seven  were  prostitutes;  the  others  worked  at  various 
occupations ;  two  were  hairdressers ;  one  a  music 
teacher,  etc.  Of  the  one  hundred  families,  thirty  were 
self  supporting ;  sixteen  did  not  support  their  families 
at  all,  while  fifty-four  were  dependent  on  outside  as- 
sistance. In  regard  to  their  family  status,  sixty-six 
lived  an  unbroken  family  life ;  in  twenty-one  cases  the 
husband  and  wife  were  separated ;  seven  women  were 
deserted ;  there  were  three  cases  of  illegal  relationship. 
Out  of  the  one  hundred  cases,  there  were  seven  inter- 
marriages ;  in  two  instances  white  men  had  married 
colored  women ;  in  five  instances  white  women  had 
married  colored  men. 

86  Mothers  Out  Out  of  the  one  hundred  poor  families 
of  100  Go  Out  taken  from  the  Juvenile  Protective  As- 
to  Work  sociation    records,   it   was    found    that 

eighty-six  of  the  women  went  out  to 
work  and,  while  there  is  no  doubt  that  this  number  is 
'  abnormally  high,  it  is  always  easier  for  a  colored 
woman  to  find  work  than  it  is  for  a  colored  man, 
partly  because  white  people  have  the  traditions  of 
colored  servants  and  partly  because  there  is  a  steadier 
demand  and  a  smaller  supply  of  household  workers, 
wash  and  scrub  women,  than  there  is  of  the  kind  of 
unskilled  work  done  by  men.  Even  here  colored  peo- 
ple are  discriminated  against,  and  although  many^  are 
employed  in  highly  respectable  families,  there  is  a 
tendency  to  engage  them  in  low-class  hotels  and  other 
places  where  white  women  do  not  care  to  go. 


Percentage  of  No  figures  are  available  later  than 
Colored  Women  1900,  but  in  a  governmental  report 
Working  made  then,  the  colored  women  in  Chi- 

cago constituted  42.5  per  cent  of  the 
bread-winners  of  their  race,  slightly  lower  than  the 
43.2  per  cent  given  in  the  census  report  for  the  entire 
United  States.  This  is  more  than  double  the  propor- 
tion of  white  women  employed,  which  the  census  gives 
as  20.6  per  cent  of  the  entire  white  population.  Only 
.04  per  cent  of  working  white  women  are  married. 

School  Irregu-  As  60  per  cent  of  negro  working 
larity  Common  women  over  sixteen  years  of  age  are 
Among  Colored  married,  there  is  no  doubt  that  many 
Children  colored    children    are    neglected.      In- 

vestigators found  from  consultation 
with  the  principals  of  the  schools  largely  attended  by 
colored  children  that  they  are  irregular  in  attendance 
and  often  tardy;  that  they  are  eager  to  leave  school 
at  an  early  age,  although  in  one  school  where  there  is 
a  great  deal  of  manual  work  this  tendency  is  less  pro- 
nounced. Colored  children,  more  than  any  others,  are 
kept  at  home  to  care  for  younger  members  of  the 
family  while  the  mother  is  away  at  work.  A  very  per- 
sistent violation  of  the  compulsory  education  law  re- 
cently tried  in  the  Municipal  Court  disclosed  the  fact 
that  a  colored  brother  and  sister  were  alternately  kept 
out  of  school  to  care  for  the  younger  children,  who 
had  been  refused  admittance  in  a  day  nursery,  that  the 
old  woman  who  cared  for  the  little  household  for 
twenty-five  cents  a  day  was  ill  and  that  the  mother 
had  been  obliged  to  keep  the  older  children  at  home  in 
order  to  retain  her  place  in  a  laundry.  At  the  very 
best  the  school  attendance  of  her  five  children  had  been 
most  unsatisfactory,  for  she  left  home  every  morning 
at  half-past  six  and  the  illiterate  old  womantopk  little 
interest  in  school.  The  lack  of  home  discipline  per- 
haps accounts  for  the  indifference  to  all  school  interests 
on  the  part  of  many  colored  children,  although  this 
complaint  is  not  made  of  those  in  the  high  schools  who 
come  from  more  prosperous  families.  The  most  strik- 
ing difference  in  the  health  of  the  colored  children 


X 


compared  to  that  of  the  white  children  in  the  same 
neighborhood  was  the  larger  proportion  of  the  cases 
of  rickets,  due,  of  course,  to  malnutrition  and  neglect. 
The  colored  people  themselves  believe  the  school  au- 
thorities are  more  interested  in  a  school  whose  patron- 
age is  predominantly  white. 

No  Congenial  It  was  found  that  young  colored  girls, 
Employment  for  like  the  boys,  often  become  desperately 
Refined  Girls  discouraged  in  their  efforts  to  find  em- 
ployment. High  school  girls  of  refined 
appearance,  after  looking  for  weeks,  will  find  nothing 
open  to  them  in  department  stores,  office  buildings, 
or  manufacturing  establishments,  save  a  few  positions 
as  maids  in  the  women's  waiting  rooms.  Such  girls 
find  it  continually  assumed  by  the  employment  agen- 
cies to  whom  they  apply  for  positions  that  they  are 
willing  to  serve  as  domestics  in  low  class  hotels  and 
disreputable  houses.  Of  course,  the  agency  does  not 
explain  the  character  of  the  place  to  which  the  girl 
is  sent,  but  on  going  to  one  address  after  another  she 
finds  that  they  are  all  of  this  kind.  Quite  recently  an 
intelligent  colored  girl  who  had  kept  a  careful  record 
of  her  experiences  with  three  employment  agencies 
came  to  the  office  of  the  Juvenile  Protective  Associa- 
tion to  see  what  might  be  done  to  protect  colored  girls 
less  experienced  and  self-reliant  than  herself,  against 
similar  temptations.  Quite  recently  a  young  colored 
girl  who  at  the  age  of  fifteen  had  been  sent  to  a  house 
of  prostitution  by  an  employment  agency,  was  rescued 
from  the  house,  treated  in  a  hospital  and  sent  to  her 
sister  in  a  western  state.  She  there  married  a  re- 
spectable man  and  is  now  living  in  a  little  home  "al- 
most paid  for." 

The  case  of  Eliza  M.,  who  has  worked  as  a  cook  in 
a  disreputable  house  for  ten  years  is  that  of  a  woman 
forced  into  vicious  surroundings.  In  addition  to  her 
wages  of  five  dollars  a  week  and  food,  which  she  is 
permitted  to  take  home  every  evening  to  her  famliy, 
she  has  been  able  to  save  her  generous  "tips"  for  the 
education  of  her  three  children,  for  whom  she  is  very 
ambitious. 


Insults  to  Girls    Colored  young  women  who  are  mani- 
Comraon  curists   and    hairdressers    find   it   con- 

tinually assumed  that  they  will  be  will- 
ing to  go  to  hotels  under  compromising  conditions,  and 
when  a  decent  girl  refuses  to  go,  she  is  told  that  that 
is  all  that  she  can  expect.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
few  colored  girls  who  find  positions  as  stenographers 
or  bookkeepers  are  much  more  open  to  insult  than 
white  girls  in  similar  positions. 

All  these  experiences  tend  to  discourage  the  young 
people  from  that  "education"  which  their  parents  so 
eagerly  desire  for  them  and  also  makes  it  extremely 
difficult  for  them  to  maintain  their  standards  of  self- 
respect. 

Life  Insurance     It  was  found  that  colored  people  in  Chi- 
Popular  cago  do  not  patronize  these  life  insur- 

ance companies  so  successfully  man- 
aged by  colored  men  in  Atlanta  and  in  other  cities. 
The  investigators,  however,  found  many  colored  agents 
employed  as  solicitors  among  their  own  people;  two 
hundred  colored  agents,  for  instance,  are  writing  poli- 
cies for  accident  insurance  companies.  The  Metropoli- 
tan Life  Insurance  Company  alone  has  approximately 
65,000  industrial  policies  on  the  lives  of  colored  peo- 
ple in  the  city  of  Chciago,  many  colored  people  having 
more  than  one  policy  on  every  member  of  the  family. 

Many  Profes-  Chicago  has  a  large  number  of  fine 
sional  Men  of  negro  professional  men ;  this  is  due 
High  Standard  largely  to  the  number  of  schools  and 
universities  accessible  to  the  negro's 
use.  There  are  in  Chicago  sixty-five  colored  physi- 
cians, four  of  whom  are  women ;  twenty-five  lawyers ; 
eighteen  dentists ;  twelve  pharmacists,  with  many  stu- 
dents in  attendance  at  the  universities  and  professional 
schools.  One  of  the  physicians  is  on  the  staff  of  St. 
Luke's  hospital  and  others  are  responsible  for  the  fine 
medical  work  carried  on  at  the  Provident  Hospital, 
the  leading  hospital  for  colored  people  in  the  United 
States.  The  colored  people  are  justly  proud  of  this 
hospital,  founded  in  1891,  where  there  is  no  discrimina- 


tion  between  white  and  colored  people,  on  the  staff  of 
physicians  and  nurses,  nor  among  the  patients.  The 
hospital  is  managed  by  a  board  of  trustees  of  fourteen 
members — six  white  and  eight  colored,  and  has  a  good 
standing  among  the  hospitals  of  Chicago.  Although 
colored  women  have  an  aptitude  for  nursing,  there 
are  not  enough  training  schools  in  the  country  where 
they  can  be  properly  trained  as  nurses,  such  as  the  Provi- 
dent Hospital  in  Chicago;  the  Freedmen's  Hospital 
in  Washington,  D.  C. ;  the  Lincoln  Hospital  in  New 
York,  and  one  in  Philadelphia.  One  of  the  colored 
dentists  of  Chicago  is  a  leader  in  his  profession.  His 
practice  is  exclusively  among  white  people.  Two 
colored  dentists  are  women.  Several  of  the  colored 
lawyers  have  been  in  the  State's  Attorney's  office,  one 
of  them  an  assistant  there  from  1896  to  1911,  was  most 
active  in  bettering  conditions  for  the  juvenile  offend- 
ers ;  still  another  colored  man  was  District  United 
States  Attorney  for  some  years,  and  several  negro 
lawyers  have  been  admitted  to  Supreme  Court  prac- 
tice. One  of  the  prominent  colored  lawyers  who  was 
for  five  years  head  of  the  department  of  the  city  dam- 
age suits,  has  become  a  specialist  in  "track  elevation 
suits"  with  big  corporations  as  his  clients. 

Physicians  and  The  colored  people  often  state  that  the 
Lawyers  Real  colored  professional  men,  lawyers  and 
Factors  in  So-  physicians,  rather  than  the  ministers 
cial  Improve-  and  social  workers,  have  been  the  real 
ment  factors     in     the     social     improvement 

among  the  negroes  of  Chicago.  They 
instance  that  the  Frederick  Douglas  Center  has 
staunch  supporters  among  the  professional  men ;  that 
the  president  of  their  newly  built  Y.  M.  C.  A.  is  a 
colored  physician  and  that  professional  men  are  very 
active  in  the  Chicago  branch  of  the  National  Associa- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  Colored  People. 

Musicians  of        Among  the  many  colored  musicians  in 

Prominence  Chicago  are  at  least  a  score  who  may 

be  called   professionals ;  two  of  them 

direct  orchestras ;  one  is  a  pianist  of  local  reputation ; 


at  least  four  of  them  singing  in  vaudeville  are  also 
composers  of  songs;  two  are  young  colored  women 
who  have  extensively  traveled  as  singers  in  Cuba  and 
South  America  as  well  as  in  the  United  States.  Every 
year  several  young  people  graduate  at  the  various 
musical  colleges,  and  a  gifted  young  violinist  is  now 
studying  in  Paris.  The  Art  Institute  often  has  colored 
students,  and  there  are  a  goodly  number  of  colored 
people  who  write  creditable  poetry,  chiefly  words  to 
songs  which  are  set  to  music  by  their  friends.  Four 
newspapers  edited  in  Chicago  by  colored  men,  as  well 
as  contributions  to  the  "Crisis"  and  other  magazines, 
give  evidence  of  a  remarkable  ability  for  writing.  In 
addition  to  several  clergymen  and  attorneys  of  un- 
doubted forensic  ability,  may  be  cited  several  lecturers, 
one  of  them  a  woman  with  a  gift  for  public  speaking, 
who  years  ago  roused  interest  throughout  England  in 
the  condition  of  colored  people. 

Church  Chief  The  church  among  the  colored  people 
Factor  in  has   always   been   the   chief   factor   in 

Social  Life  their    social    life.      In    Chicago    there 

are  twenty-nine  regularly  organized 
churches  in  addition  to  various  missions,  with  ap- 
proximately twenty  thousand  members.  This  includes 
nearly  half  of  the  colored  population  of  the  city,  a 
much  larger  proportion  than  the  church  membership 
among  the  white  population.  The  churches  own  prop- 
erty to  the  amount  of  six  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
although  every  church  is  carrying  a  debt.  The  church 
is  a  center  for  the  colored  people  for  lectures,  literary 
societies,  civic  meetings,  and  so  forth.  Many  churches 
have  young  people's  societies,  meeting  every  Sunday 
afternoon,  united  to  the  extent  of  sustaining  in  Chicago 
an  annual  oratorical  contest  to  which  they  all  send 
representatives.  Two  of  the  churches,  one  on  the 
South  Side  and  one  on  the  West  Side,  at  one  time  car- 
ried on  institutional  work,  which  has  been  discontinued 
because  of  lack  of  funds ;  one  of  the  Baptist  churches 
supports  a  religious  training  school  which  has  eleven 
teachers  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  students.  The 
clergymen  are,  as  a  rule,  men  who  have  been  educated 


in  some  of  the  best  northern  and  southern  theological 
seminaries,  but  they  are  inclined  to  be  sectarian  and  to 
confine  themselves  to  the  conventional  church  routine. 
The  colored  ministers  of  one  denomination  seldom 
meet  with  the  colored  ministers  of  another  denomina- 
tion and  almost  never  with  the  white  ministers  of 
their  own  denomination.  They  complain  that  they 
meet  with  public  approval  when  they  work  for  the 
religious  advancement  of  their  own  race,  but  are  re- 
buffed when  they  enter  into  general  movements  for 
civic  betterment. 

Young  Men's  A  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
Christian  building    in    Chicago    represents    the 

Association  largest  investment  ever  made  by  that 

association  to  be  devoted  to  the  inter- 
ests of  colored  men  and  boys.  Its  entire  cost  approxi- 
mates $195,000.  It  contains  the  standard  equipment  of 
gymnasium,  restaurant,  dormitories,  etc.,  and  has  a 
membership  of  2,000,  although  the  annual  fee  is  ten 
dollars. 

Juvenile  Officers  Among  the  colored  social  workers  of 
and  Social  the  city  are   five   Juvenile  Protection 

Workers  Officers  and  one  Adult  Probation  Offi- 

cer. The  county  agent  employed  one 
colored  investigator  and  the  Juvenile  Protective  Asso- 
ciation one  colored  officer;  there  are  three  colored 
nurses  employed  by  the  Visiting  Nurses'  Association, 
and  three  others  upon  the  staff  of  the  public  school 
nurses.  The  standard  of  all  these  social  workers  is  as 
high  as  the  average,  and  several  of  them — notably  two 
young  women  living  at  the  Wendell  Phillips  Settle- 
ment, have  taken  the  full  course  at  the  Chicago  School 
of  Civics  and  Philanthropy.  The  colored  people  them- 
selves feel  that  there  is  urgent  need  for  more  trained 
social  workers.  The  clubs  of  colored  women  which 
are  beginning  to  study  the  social  needs  of  their  dis- 
tricts urge  their  members  to  more  serious  study;  of 
these  clubs  the  Civic  Club  is  devoted  to  rescue  work, 
the  Phyllis  Wheatley  Club  to  maintaining  a  permanent 
home  for  colored  working  girls,  the  Parents'  School 


Club  to  securing  better  school  conditions,  a  Neighbor- 
hood Club  to  making  local  improvements.  Several 
other  women's  clubs,  which  take  care  of  special  cases 
in  need  of  relief  and  co-operate  with  the  United  Chari- 
ties, are  eager  for  guidance  as  to  the  best  method  of 
Charitable  administration.  There  are  forty-one  clubs 
of  colored  women  in  the  city,  with  a  total  membership 
of  1,200,  most  of  them  devoted  to  philanthropy  and 
closely  allied  to  the  women's  aid  societies  found  in 
all  the  colored  churches.  Two  clubs  for  colored  women 
are  of  a  somewhat  different  character,  federated  with 
the  Cook  County  League  of  Women's  Clubs  and  co- 
operate in  general  social  movements. 

Social  There  are  four  settlements  in  Chicago 

Settlements  in  or  near  the  neighborhoods  of  colored 

people.  The  pioneer  was  the  Frederick 
Douglas  Center  on  the  South  Side  of  Chicago,  founded 
to  promote  a  better  understanding  between  white  and 
colored  people  and  to  help  remove  the  arbitrary  dis- 
abilities from  which  the  latter  suffer  in  their  civil, 
political  and  industrial  life.  The  founder  and  head  resi- 
dent, who  had  for  years  been  troubled  by  the  increasing 
race  antagonism  against  the  colored  people,  believes 
that  much  can  be  accomplished  by  a  frank  discussion 
of  the  situation  between  the  two  races  if  it  be  carried 
on  with  justice  and  good  will ;  cases  of  unusual  dis- 
crimination are  often  arbitrated  and  adjusted. 

The  Wendell  Phillips  settlement  was  also  organ- 
ized by  a  board  of  white  and  colored  people  who  were 
concerned  over  the  conditions  obtaining  in  the  colored 
district  on  the  West  Side  of  the  city.  Two  young  col- 
ored women,  graduates  of  Fiske  University,  are  in 
charge  and  have  developed  an  excellent  system  of 
clubs  and  classes.  Both  of  these  settlements  own  their 
own  property. 

The  Negro  Fellowship  League  was  founded  as  an 
outgrowth  of  the  discussion  following  the  Springfield 
riots,  when  it  was  said  that  the  difficulty  arose  from 
idle  young  men  out  of  work,  maintains  a  reading  room, 
a  lodging  house,  and  an  employment  agency  on  State 
street  in  the  midst  of  the  "Black  Belt."   The  League 


performs  many  offices  for  the  colored  men  who  have 
newly  arrived  in  Chicago  similar  to  those  of  the  League 
for  the  Protection  of  Immigrants ;  in  fact,  the  needs  of 
the  two  classes  of  people  are  similar  in  many  respects, 
implying  lack  of  adjustment  rather  than  lack  of  abil- 
ity. " 

The  Enterprise  Institute  on  State  street  has  classes 
in  various  lines,  at  present  numbering  150  pupils. 
There  are  in  Chicago  an  entire  group  of  institutions 
which  have  arisen  as  colored  people  were  discriminated 
against  in  existing  institutions,  such  as  the  Home  for 
the  Widows  of  Colored  Soldiers  and  the  Home  for 
the  Aged,  all  supported  by  associations  of  colored 
women. 


Race  Prejudice  A  day  nursery  for  colored  children  was 
Found  Even  in  organized  a  year  ago  because  several 
Day  Nurseries  day  nurseries  refused  to  receive  colored 
and  Dependent  children  on  the  ground  that  "the  other 
Homes  people  objected  to  them."     There  are 

likewise  five  homes  for  colored  de- 
pendent children;  two  were  the  outgrowths  of  appar- 
ent discrimination  against  colored  children  in  two 
state  industrial  schools  receiving  public  funds,  al- 
though in  the  case  of  the  Illinois  Industrial  School  for 
Girls,  situated  at  Park  Ridge,  Illinois,  the  Institution 
is  responsible  for  the  branch  maintained  in  Chicago 
for  colored  girls  and  defrays  all  expenses.  The  board 
managers  believe  that  this  segregation  is  equally  valu- 
able to  both  sets  of  children.  The  similar  school  for 
boys  at  Glenwood,  Illinois,  does  not  maintain  a  sepa- 
rate branch,  but  in  various  ways  avoids  taking  colored 
boys  into  the  school.  At  the  time  of  the  investigation, 
the  Glenwood  School  contained  500  white  boys  and 
fifteen  colored  boys,  a  number  disproportionate  to  the 
cases  of  colored  boys  brought  into  the  Juvenile  Court. 
It  is  becoming  a  custom,  on  the  part  of  many  places, 
to  refuse  colored  children,  with  the  cryptic  utterance, 
"We  have  no  room." 


In  order  to  provide  for  dependent  and  delinquent 
colored  children,  a  colored  workman,  previously  a  pro- 
bation officer,  established  the  Louise  Juvenile  Home, 
which  cares  for  twenty  dependent  boys.  The  Eldridge 
Home  and  the  Marcy  Home  each  provides  for  smaller 
children.  The  Amanda  Smith  Home  was  founded  by 
an  ex-slave  with  a  remarkable  gift  for  public  speaking 
and  great  religious  devotion.  She  spent  twelve  years 
in  China,  Japan  and  Africa  under  the  auspices  of  the 
English  Missionary  and  Temperance  Society.  Return- 
ing home  to  Chicago  in  1900,  she  invested  the  savings 
of  her  lifetime,  ten  thousand  dollars,  in  the  Home, 
which  is  chartered  under  the  provision  of  the  industrial 
school  act.  The  Home  cares  for  fifty  children,  but 
since  Mrs.  Smith  left,  on  account  of  ill  health,  it  has 
been  greatly  crippled  for  lack  of  funds.  All  of  these 
homes  for  colored  children  are  supported  wholly  by 
colored  people.  The  Illinois  Technical  School  for  col- 
ored girls  is  maintained  in  Chicago  by  the  Catholic 
Church ;  there  are  fifty-one  girls  in  the  school,  ranging 
from  four  to  sixteen  years  of  age  and  receiving  most 
excellent  care.  In  spite  of  these  various  efforts,  the  care 
for  dependent  and  semi-delinquent  colored  children  is 
totally  inadequate,  a  situation  which  is  the  more  re- 
markable as  the  public  records  all  give  a  high  percent- 
age of  negro  criminals ;  the  police  department  give  7.7 
per  cent;  the  Juvenile  Court  6.5  per  cent;  the  county 
jail  10  per  cent. 

Those  familiar  with  the  police  and  the  courts  be- 
lieve that  negroes  are  often  arrested  on  excuses  too 
flimsy  to  hold  a  white  man;  that  any  negro  who  hap- 
pens to  be  near  the  scene  of  a  crime  or  disorder  is 
promptly  arrested  and  often  convicted  on  evidence 
upon  which  a  white  man  would  be  discharged.  The 
Juvenile  Protective  Association  has  on  record  cases  in 
which  negroes  have  been  arrested  without  sufficient 
cause  and  convicted  on  inadequate  evidence,  and  it  is 
well  known  that  a  certain  type  of  policeman,  juryman, 
and  prosecuting  attorney  have  apparently  no  scruples 
in  sending  "a  nigger  up  the  road"  on  mere  suspicion. 


Negroes  Fre-       To  take  one  record  from  the  files  of  the 
quently  Association,  the  case  of  George  W.,  a 

Convicted  on        colored  boy,  nineteen  years  old,  who 
Suspicion  was  born  in  Chicago  and  had  attended 

the  public  schools  through  one  year  at 
the  high  school.  He  lived  with  his  mother  and  had 
worked  steadily  for  three  years  as  a  porter  in  a  large 
grocery  store,  until  August  22,  1912,  when  he  was 
arrested  on  the  charge  of  rape.  On  the  late  afternoon 
of  that  day  an  old  woman  of  eighty-three  was  as- 
saulted by  a  negro  and  was  saved  from  the  horrible 
attack  only  by  the  timely  arrival  of  her  daughter,  who 
so  frightened  the  assailant  that  he  jumped  out  of  a 
window.  Two  days  later  George  was  arrested,  charged 
with  the  crime.  At  the  police  station  he  was  not  al- 
lowed to  sleep ;  was  beaten,  cuffed  and  kicked,  and 
finally,  battered  and  frightened,  he  confessed  that  he 
had  committed  the  crime.  When  he  appeared  in 
court,  his  lawyer  advised  him  to  plead  guilty,  although 
the  boy  explained  that  he  had  not  committed  the  crime 
and  had  confessed  simply  because  he  was  forced  to  do 
so.  The  evidence  against  him  was  so  flimsy  that  the 
judge  referred  to  it  in  his  instructions  to  the  jury.  The 
State's  Attorney  had  failed  to  establish  the  ownership 
of  the  cap  dropped  by  the  fleeing  assailant  and  the 
time  of  the  attempted  act  was  changed  during  the 
testimony.  Though  the  description  given  by  the  peo- 
ple who  saw  the  colored  man  running  away  did  not 
agree  with  George's  appearance,  nevertheless  the  jury 
brought  in  a  verdict  of  guilty  and  the  judge  sentenced 
the  boy  to  fourteen  years  in  the  penitentiary.  When 
one  of  the  men  who  had  seen  the  guilty  man  running 
away  from  the  old  woman's  house  was  asked  why  he 
did  not  make  his  testimony  more  explicit,  he  replied, 
"Oh,  well,  he's  only  a  nigger  anyway."  The  case  was 
brought  to  the  Juvenile  Protective  Association  by  the 
employer  of  George  W.,  who,  convinced  of  the  boy's 
good  character,  felt  that  he  had  not  had  a  fair  trial. 
The  Association  found  that  the  boy  could  absolutely 
prove  an  alibi  at  the  time  of  the  crime  and  is  making 
an  effort  to  get  him  out  of  the  penitentiary. 


A  Man's  Fate  Occasionally  it  happens  that  very  little 
Decided  in  time  is  given  to  a  case  where  a  negro 

Sixteen  Minutes  is  concerned. 

Some  time  ago  a  colored  man  was 
arrested  and  charged  with  murder.  He  pleaded  guilty 
and  was  sentenced  by  the  judge  to  imprisonment  for 
life  in  the  penitentiary.  It  took  just  sixteen  minutes 
from  the  time  the  negro  was  brought  into  the  court 
to  the  time  he  left  it,  to  have  his  case  brought  up,  to 
plead  guilty  and  to  have  a  sentence  of  lifelong  im- 
prisonment pronounced.  It  surely  seems  as  if  such  a 
serious  crime  as  the  taking  of  life  and  the  commitment 
of  a  man  to  prison  for  as  long  as  he  lives,  should  at 
least  require  less  haste  and  more  mature  deliberation. 

Economic  Con-  The  reasons  given  by  the  leading  col- 
dition  Largest  ored  men  of  Chicago  for  the  large 
Factor  in  amount  of  crime  among  their  people 

Production  are  curiously  confirmed  by  the  results 

of  Crime  of   this    investigation.      They   contend 

that  first,  the  negroes  in  Chicago  are 
so  limited  in  the  choice  of  employment  that  they  under- 
bid each  other  and  are  forced  to  work  for  the  smallest 
wages.  This  obliges  the  wife  and  mother  to  go  out 
to  work  and  the  consequent  neglect  of  the  children 
leads  to  truancy,  incorrigibility  and  crime.  Second, 
that  the  colored  people  of  Chicago  are  obliged  to  pay 
such  a  high  rental  that  a  large  number  of  families  are 
forced  to  take  in  lodgers,  which  results  in  much  im- 
morality and  indecency  among  colored  people  who 
would  otherwise  remain  respectable.  Third,  that  the 
colored  people  are  forced  to  make  their  homes  in  and 
near  the  openly  immoral  districts  of  the  city  so  that 
the  only  white  people  many  colored  children  ever  see 
are  those  frequenting  the  vice  district.  Fourth,  the 
disproportionate  number  of  negro  criminals  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  their  desire  for  the  friendship  and  sym- 
pathy of  the  white  people  is  often  exploited  by  white 
criminals  who  wish  to  secure  shelter  from  the  police. 
Some  obscure  colored  family,  happy  to  render  a  serv- 
ice to  a  white  man,  takes  him  in  sometimes  for  weeks 


or  months,  and  he  naturally  influences  the  colored  men 
with  whom  he  associates. 

Remedies  As    remedies    against   the   unjust   dis- 

Suggested  crimination   against   the   colored    man 

suspected  of  crime,  a  leading  attorney 
of  the  race  in  Chicago  suggests :  (a)  Generalizing 
against  the  negro  should  cease;  the  fact  that  one  negro 
is  bad  should  not  fix  criminality  upon  the  race.  The 
race  should  be  judged  by  its  best  as  well  as  by  its 
worst  types,  (b)  The  public  press  never  associates 
the  nationality  of  a  criminal  so  markedly  in  its  account 
of  crime  as  in  the  case  of  a  negro.  This  exception  is 
most  unjust  and  harmful  and  should  not  obtain,  (c) 
The  negro  should  not  be  made  the  universal  "scape- 
goat." When  a  crime  is  committed,  the  slightest  pre- 
text starts  the  rumor  of  a  "negro  suspect"  and  flaming 
headlines  prejudice  the  public  mind  long  after  the 
white  criminal  is  found. 

The  colored  man  complains  of  race  prejudice  ex- 
hibited first  in  the  readiness  to  condemn  the  untried 
negro  as  a  criminal ;  second,  in  the  refusal  to  give  him 
employment  fitted  to  his  skill  and  capacity;  third,  in 
crowding  the  colored  population  into  the  most  un- 
desirable houses  in  the  city.  He  does  not  resent  social 
ostracism,  but  he  does  make  a  vigorous  demand  for  his 
civil  and  economic  rights. 

In  order  to  test  the  many  times  repeated  statement 
that  colored  people  are  discriminated  against  at  pub- 
lic cafes,  a  young  colored  woman,  at  the  request  of  the 
investigators,  visited  sixteen  of  the  leading  confection- 
ers of  Chicago  in  the  most  crowded  portion  of  the  city, 
asking  to  be  served  with  a  cup  of  hot  chocolate.  In 
every  place  she  was  served,  always  by  white  men  or 
women,  and  the  white  patrons  seated  at  adjoining 
tables  paid  no  attention  to  her  presence.  At  one  place, 
however,  she  was  obliged  to  wait  for  a  long  time,  but 
was  finally  served  without  remark.  At  another  place, 
after  waiting  for  twenty  minutes,  she  was  asked  to 
take  a  seat  at  the  counter  and  told  that  white  people 
would  not  sit  at  the  same  table  with  her.  At  two  other 
places  she  fancied  that  she  was  made  fun  of  by  the 


waiters,  but  in  none  of  the  places  did  she  encounter 
actual  rudeness.  Possibly  this  treatment  would  not 
have  been  accorded  to  her  at  the  hotels.  Quite  recently 
the  County  Federation  of  women's  clubs  arranged  a 
luncheon  at  one  of  the  leading  hotels  of  the  city.  When 
the  proprietor  objected  to  the  presence  of  the  colored 
delegates,  the  officers  of  the  federation  gave  up  the 
luncheon  rather  than  to  countenance  such  discrimina- 
tion, although  the  objection  was  made  so  late  that  a 
committee  wras  obliged  to  stand  at  the  door  of  the  hotel 
to  tell  the  members  that  the  luncheon  had  been  given 
up  and  the  program  postponed.  Naturally  some  of 
the  delegates  objected,  but  the  large  majority  approved 
the  action  of  the  officers  in  spite  of  the  great  inconveni- 
ence involved. 

Colored  People  All  colored  people  are  especially  fond 
Especially  Fond  of  music,  but  almost  the  only  outlet  the 
of  Music  young   people    find    for    their    musical 

facility  is  in  vaudeville  shows,  amuse- 
ment parks  and  inferior  types  of  theaters.  That  which 
should  be  a  great  source  of  inspiration  tends  to  pull 
them  down,  as  their  love  of  pleasure,  lacking  innocent 
expression,  draws  them  toward  the  vice  district,  where 
alone  the  color  line  disappears. 

Model  Dance  An  effort  was  recently  made  by  some 
Hall  Opposed  colored  people  on  the  South  Side  to 
by  White  start  a  model  dance  hall.     The  white 

People  people  of  the  vicinity,  assuming  that 

it  would  be  an  objectionable  place,  suc- 
cessfully opposed  it  as  a  public  nuisance  and  this  erTort 
toward  better  recreation  facilities  had  to  be  aban- 
doned. 

Colored  Boys  Even  the  waters  of  Lake  Michigan  are 
Cannot  Bathe  not  available  for  colored  children, 
in  Lake  They  are  not  welcomed  by  the  white 

Michigan  children   at   the   bathing   beaches   and 

late  last  summer  one  little  colored  boy 
who  attempted  to  bathe  at  the  Thirty-ninth  street 
beach  was  mobbed  and  treated  so  roughly  that  the 
police  were  obliged  to  send  in  a  riot  call. 


This  investigation  would  certainly  explain  the 
presence  of  so  large  a  proportion  of  colored  boys  in 
the  county  jail  on  the  following  grounds:  First,  the 
colored  children  are  forced  to  live  in  the  very  worst 
neighborhoods  in  Chicago  and  even  there  the  colored 
families  are  charged  such  high  rents  that  the  house  is 
tilled  with  "floaters"  of  a  very  undesirable  class,  so  that 
the  children  witness  all  kinds  of  offenses  against  de- 
cency within  the  house  as  well  as  on  the  streets. 

Second,  the  fathers  of  the  families,  because  they 
are  so  circumscribed  in  their  lines  of  occupation,  work 
for  very  small  wages,  with  the  inevitable  outcome  that 
the  mothers  go  out  to  work  and  neglect  their  children. 
As  a  result,  the  colored  children  are  underfed,  irregu- 
lar in  school  attendance,  make  slow  progress  in  their 
studies  and  drop  out  of  school  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment. 

Third,  there  are  not  enough  places  in  Chicago 
where  negro  children  may  find  wholesome  amusement. 
Of  the  fifteen  small  parks  and  playgrounds  with  field 
houses,  only  two  are  really  utilized  by  colored  children. 

They  avoid  the  others  because  of  friction  and  diffi- 
culty which  they  constantly  encountered  with  the 
white  children.  The  commercial  amusements  found 
in  the  neighborhoods  of  colored  people  are  of  the  low- 
est type  of  pool  rooms  and  saloons,  which  are  arti- 
ficially numerous  because  so  many  young  colored  men 
find  their  first  employment  in  these  two  occupations 
and  with  their  experience  and  very  little  capital  are 
able  to  open  places  for  themselves. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  factor  of  all  is  the  difficulty 
which  all  colored  people  have  in  finding  employment; 
and  after  an  ambitious  boy  has  been  refused  employ- 
ment again  and  again  in  the  larger  mercantile  and  in- 
dustrial establishments  and  comes  to  the  conclusion 
that  there  is  no  use  in  trying  to  get  a  decent  job,  he 
is  in  a  very  dangerous  state  of  mind.  Idle  and  dis- 
couraged, his  neighborhood  environments  vicious,  such 
a  boy  quickly  shows  the  first  symptoms  of  delinquency 
anc.  the  remedial  agencies  which  should  be  prompt  in 
his  I  case  are  the  very  weakest  at  this  point.    Added  to 


this  is  the  conviction  held  by  many  colored  boys  inHJ 
young  men  that  "the  police  have  it  in  for  them  ami 
do  not  accord  them  fair  treatment." 

In  suggesting  remedies  for  this  state  of  affairs,  th< 
broken  family  life,  the  surrounding  of  a  vicious  neigh- 
borhood, the  dearth  of  adequate  employment,  the  lacl 
of  preventive  institutional  care  and  proper  recreation] 
for  negro  youth,  the  Juvenile  Protection  Associatioi 
finds  itself  confronted  with  the  situation  stated  at  ih< 
beginning  of  the  investigation,  that  the  life  of  the  col-j 
ored  boy  and  girl  is  so  circumscribed  on  every  hand! 
by  race  limitations  that  they  can  be  helped  only  inso-j 
far  as  the  entire  colored  reputation  in  Chicago  is  ur-j 
derstood  and  fairly  treated. 

For  many  years  Chicago,  keeping  to  the  traditioi 
of  its  early  history,  had  the  reputation  among  colorec 
people  of  according  them  fair  treatment.  Even  now 
it  is  free  from  the  outward  signs  of  "segregation/'  bu' 
unless  the  city  realizes  more  fully  than  it  does  at  pres- 
ent the  great  injustice  which  discrimination  againsl 
any  class  of  citizens  entails,  we  shall  suffer  for  our  in- 
difference by  an  ever  increasing  number  of  idle  anrj 
criminal  youth,  which  must  eventually  vitiate  both  tj" 
black  and  white  citizenship  of  Chicago. 


Lithomount 

Pamphlet 

Binder 

Gaylord  Bros.  Inc. 

Makers 

Syracuse,  N  Y 

PAT.  JAN  21,  1908 


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UNIVER9ITV  OF  ILUNOI3-URBANA 


■   I II  III 


3  0112  047066888 


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